With the House having already passed its own bill, Congress is now
closer to achieving health care reform than it has ever been in the six
decades that Democrats have pursued it.

"We're now down to the week we've been waiting for for a long time,"
said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) after emerging from a meeting of Senate
Democrats.

Democratic leadership expressed confidence that the votes would be
there by Saturday for a motion to proceed to a floor debate on the
bill. Three Democratic senators -- Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary
Landrieu of Louisiana, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas -- have yet to
commit to vote for the motion to proceed.

During the meeting, the fence-sitting members spoke to the caucus,
but didn't commit one way or another on the motion to proceed, said one
Democratic senator who spoke not for attribution.

The bill presented by Reid is stronger than pundits ever thought
possible in the summer months, when centrist and conservative Democrats
worked to kill a public health insurance option. A loud round of
applause could be heard toward the end of the meeting -- unusual for
Senate gatherings.

Reid's bill includes a national, government-run insurance plan that
would be available to consumers within the health insurance exchanges
that the reform effort establishes. States could opt out of the plan.

The bill is being posted online Wednesday night, Senate Majority
Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said. "I would hope [Republicans] would take
this opportunity to post their health care bill online," Durbin teased.
The GOP has no health care bill.

The Senate bill does not go as far as the House bill does in
restricting access to abortion. The House bill would block a woman's
ability to purchase health insurance that covers abortion even with her
own money in many instances. The Senate package, several senators said,
makes crystal clear that no federal funds could be used to pay for
abortion. But at least one plan within the exchange would have to offer
abortion coverage -- and one plan would not.

An aide who saw the specific language said the bill authorizes the
secretary of Health and Human Services to audit plans to make certain
no federal funds are being used to pay for abortion services.

House conservatives have threatened to block the reform bill if
their more restrictive provision isn't included. Kerry acknowledged
that there could still be negotiations, "but that's where the Senate is
starting."

Instead of taxing the rich to pay for a significant piece of the
bill, as the House does, the Senate plan would tax "Cadillac" health
plans. But the value of plans that would be taxed is higher than in
previous versions: $8,500 for an individual and $23,000 for a family of
four. Even higher values are allowed in high-cost states and workers in
high-risk jobs -- such as coal miners -- are given an exemption.

Reid's bill also alters the formula by which businesses would be
assessed a fee for not insuring their workers. But the new formula was
unclear. Kerry called it "convoluted" and Durbin dubbed it "complex."

Reid on Wednesday also presented to his colleagues a preliminary
Congressional Budget Office analysis, which finds that the bill will
cost $849 billion over the next decade. It would cover 94 percent of
eligible Americans, including 31 million currently uninsured Americans.
The bill would also lower the federal budget deficit by $127 billion
over the next decade and by $650 billion during the decade after that.
Kerry cautioned that the numbers were still being finalized and could
change slightly.

By keeping the total cost of the bill under $900 billion, Reid met
one of the conditions set by the Obama White House. The bill is also
expected to drastically bend the cost curve in the health care system
-- another major Obama objective -- by achieving "almost a trillion
dollars in cost savings" within the health care system.

Reid will file a cloture motion Thursday, which will be followed by
an intervening day, by Senate rules, leaving Saturday for the vote.

Further

Lord, what would John Lennon have made of the Trump monster? Marking Thursday's 36th anniversary of Lennon's murder, Yoko Ono posted a plea for gun control, calling his death "a hollowing experience" and pleading, "Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace." With so many seeking solace in these ugly times, mourns one fan, "Oh John, you really should be here." Lennon conceded then, and likely would now, "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."